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This chapter describes the new cosmology of comunidade, or “community,” in Amazonia. It also considers how the Culina Indians have responded to two different forms of missionization, one Catholic, the other Protestant. In particular, it addresses the work of two of the principal missionary groups, the American Protestant Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) and the Brazilian Catholic Conselho Indigenista Missionário, in the discussion of the Culina. CIMI missionaries have initiated several projects among the Culina, all of which have so far failed to stimulate interest or villagewide...

This chapter describes the new cosmology of comunidade, or “community,” in Amazonia. It also considers how the Culina Indians have responded to two different forms of missionization, one Catholic, the other Protestant. In particular, it addresses the work of two of the principal missionary groups, the American Protestant Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) and the Brazilian Catholic Conselho Indigenista Missionário, in the discussion of the Culina. CIMI missionaries have initiated several projects among the Culina, all of which have so far failed to stimulate interest or villagewide support. Culina become distinctly uncomfortable in multiethnic or pan-Indian contexts. SIL saw literacy as a means to deliver the Word of God to individuals.